Korea Electric Power Corporation (NYSE:KEP) Stock Now Rated “Reduce” by Sell-Side Analysts

Korea Electric Power Corporation (NYSE:KEP) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and three have given a hold recommendation to the company.

Several research firms recently commented on KEP. Zacks Research cut shares of Korea Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Korea Electric Power from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Nomura lowered shares of Korea Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th.

Korea Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of KEP opened at $10.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of 2.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.96. Korea Electric Power has a one year low of $10.77 and a one year high of $23.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $11.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.79.

Korea Electric Power (NYSE:KEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.89). The firm had revenue of $14.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Korea Electric Power had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 15.70%. As a group, analysts expect that Korea Electric Power will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Korea Electric Power

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KEP. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Korea Electric Power by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 136,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,655,000 after acquiring an additional 69,166 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its position in shares of Korea Electric Power by 166.5% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 105,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 65,994 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Korea Electric Power by 18.6% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 45,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 7,150 shares during the period. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Korea Electric Power in the second quarter valued at $121,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP raised its stake in shares of Korea Electric Power by 54.2% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 265,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,207,000 after purchasing an additional 93,194 shares in the last quarter.

About Korea Electric Power

Korea Electric Power Corporation, commonly known as KEPCO, is South Korea’s state-owned electric utility. The company is responsible for the transmission and distribution of electricity across the country and supplies power to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

KEPCO’s activities include managing the national electricity grid, operating power-generation businesses through affiliated companies and developing energy infrastructure. Its generation-related operations span nuclear, coal, natural gas, renewable energy and other sources, while its subsidiaries include major South Korean power producers such as Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

Established in 1982, KEPCO has also pursued overseas projects involving power generation, transmission and distribution.